Place:

Ditchling
Sussex

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
described Ditchling like this:

DITCHLING, or Ditchelling, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in Lewes district, Sussex. The village stands near the Roman road to Pevensey, 1¼ mile E of Hassocks-Gate r. station, and 3 ESE of Hurstperpoint; has a post office under Hurstperpoint, and fairs on 6 April and 12 Oct.; and was once a market-town. ...

The parish comprises 4, 183 acres. Real property, £5, 901. Pop., 1, 082. Houses, 220. The property is divided among a few. Ditchling Beacon is the highest ground of the South chalk downs of Sussex; has an altitude of 858 feet above sea-level; is crowned with remains of a square camp, probably Roman; and commands a very extensive and grand view. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester. Value, £200.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is cruciform, partly transition-Norman, partly early English. There are a Unitarian chapel, a national school, a workhouse, and charities £46. -The sub-district contains five parishes. Acres, 17, 814. Pop., 3, 948. Houses, 662.